WORK BEGINS ON F-35 PARTS FIRST JSF ROLLOUT EXPECTED IN 2005.Byline: Daily News FORT WORTH - Workers in Texas and California have begun fabricating the first major airframe components for the F-35 joint strike fighter A strike fighter is a fighter aircraft which is also capable of attacking surface targets, including ships. It differs from an attack aircraft in that the aircraft remains a capable fighter. . On Monday, milling machines at Progressive Inc. in Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas (USA) within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. According to a U.S Census Bureau release, as of July 1, 2006 Arlington has an estimated population of 367,197. , and H.M. Dunn Co. Inc. in Euless, Texas Euless is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. The population was 51,226 in a 2005 census estimate. Part of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which serves the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, is inside the city limits of Euless. , began cutting ``big-bone'' structural components. Simultaneously, Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. Corp. started the milling process for other major parts of the F-35's airframe with subcontractor Brek Manufacturing in Gardena. ``Up to now, the F-35 has existed in a world of mathematical formulas and three-dimensional electronic-engineering diagrams. Today it starts emerging as a real airplane,'' said Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. Progressive's first part was a major bulkhead for the F-35's wing section. H.M. Dunn kicked off F-35 manufacturing with a forward fuselage radar bulkhead, while Brek milled a center fuselage canopy shelf. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. will assemble the F-35 at its factory in Fort Worth. Major subassemblies will be completed by Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems in El Segundo and Palmdale and by BAE Systems in Salmesbury, England. The finished subassembly sub·as·sem·bly n. pl. sub·as·sem·blies An assembled unit forming a component to be incorporated into a larger assembly. modules will then be shipped to Fort Worth for final assembly. The first F-35 is scheduled for completion in mid-2005, with the first flight planned for late that year. |
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